Background
Drug resistance has become a major concern for antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), leading to an increased risk of treatment failure. We aimed to identify the ...prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA polymerase mutations and to determine the frequency of HBV genotypes and subgenotypes in treatment-naive patients with CHB in Mekong Delta, Vietnam.
Methods
Of the 550 drug-naive CHB patients from Mekong Delta, their serum samples were analyzed for HBV DNA mutations, genotypes, and subgenotypes using polymerase chain reaction sequencing.
Results
Of the 550 patients who were infected with either HBV genotype B (72.9%) or genotype C (27.1%), the frequencies of subgenotypes were 19% B1, 3.6% B2, 10.3% B3, 39.8% B4, 0.4% C1, and 26.9% C2. The only mutation that was detected in 54 patients (10.7%) was rtV207M. The rtV207M mutation was found among 13.9% (51/368) of genotype B and among 2.2% (3/137) of genotype C (
P
< 0.0001).
Discussion
Genotype B and subgenotype B4 are predominant in Mekong Delta. Only 1 mutation rtV207M is discovered in our study. These findings suggest that it is unnecessary to test for HBV resistance mutation before delivering antiviral therapy.
Employing both computational and manual content analysis, the study examined how then-President Donald J. Trump weaponized his rhetoric before the Capitol storm on January 6, 2020. The authors ...analyzed 19 speeches (N = 19), resulting in 801 paragraphs (N = 801), of Trump from November 7, 2020, to January 6, 2021, collected from the White House and his campaign platforms. Within 19 speeches, the most frequently used words centered around achievements of Trump's administration and alleged election fraud. Eight hundred-one paragraphs further identified Trump's rhetoric style, using the frameworks of weaponized communication and bonding-bridging rhetoric. Over half of the 801 paragraphs contained weaponized communication cues, while 296 paragraphs used bonding tactics. There were indeed differences in the rhetoric employed between the White House speeches and the campaign ones.
The applications of alginate-functionalized magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4@Alg NPs) for drug delivery have been limited reported. In this study, Fe3O4@Alg NPs was successfully formulated using the ...co-precipitation method for the adsorption and delivery of curcumin in both oral and injectable routes. The Fe3O4@Alg NPs were synthesized under optimized conditions with a high saturation magnetization value and negligible remnant magnetization. Curcumin was efficiently integrated into the system through adsorption, achieving a drug encapsulation efficiency of 71% over 12 h, an average NPs size of 100–200 nm, a 1.2-time increase in the curcumin solubility, with insignificant hemolytic effects at concentrations of up to 20 mg mL−1. The adsorption isotherms and kinetic studies showed that the drug adsorption process was rapid, with low slope coefficient, high adsorption capacity of 5.981 mg g−1, and monolayer of curcumin physically adsorbed onto the NPs surfaces. Moreover, the Fe3O4@Alg NPs could protect curcumin from the acidic gastric environment and sustainably release it under simulated physiological (pH 7.4) and intestinal conditions (pH 6.8), with the release percentages of 93.48% and ∼100%, respectively. In summary, this study demonstrated the significant potential of Fe3O4@Alg NPs in enhancing the bioavailability of curcumin. These nanoparticles can be further explored as a promising distribution system for both oral and injectable administration.
The manuscript entitled “Alginate–functionalized Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a drug delivery system for targeted controlled release”, submitted to the Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology, by Luong Huynh Vu Thanh et al. Display omitted
A second cluster of COVID-19 cases imported from Europe occured in Vietnam from early March 2020. We describe 44 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positive patients (cycle threshold value <30) admitted to the ...National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Hanoi between March 6 and April 15 2020. Whole SARS-CoV-2 genomes from these patients were sequenced using Illumina Miseq and analysed for common genetic variants and relationships to local and globally circulating strains. Results showed that 32 cases were Vietnamese with a median age of 37 years (range 15-74 years), and 23 were male. Most cases were acquired outside Vietnam, mainly from the UK (n = 15), other European countries (n = 14), Russia (n = 6) and countries in Asia (n = 3). No cases had travelled from China. Forty-one cases had symptoms at admission, typically dry cough (n = 36), fever (n = 20), sore throat (n = 14) and diarrhoea (n = 12). Hospitalisation was long with a median of 25 days, most commonly from 20-29 days. All SARS-CoV-2 genomes were similar (92-100% sequence homology) to the reference sequence Wuhan_1 (NC_045512), and 32 strains belonged to the B.1.1 lineage. The three most common variants were linked, and included C3037T, C14408T (nsp12: P323L) and A23403G (S: D614G) mutations. This group of mutations often accompanied variant C241T (39/44 genomes) or GGG 28881..28883 AAC (33/44 genomes). The prevalence of the former reflected probable European origin of viruses, and the transition D614G was dominant in Vietnam. New variants were identified; however, none could be associated with disease severity.
One hundred days after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first reported in Vietnam on 23 January, 270 cases were confirmed, with no deaths. We describe the control ...measures used by the government and their relationship with imported and domestically acquired case numbers, with the aim of identifying the measures associated with successful SARS-CoV-2 control.
Clinical and demographic data on the first 270 SARS-CoV-2 infected cases and the timing and nature of government control measures, including numbers of tests and quarantined individuals, were analyzed. Apple and Google mobility data provided proxies for population movement. Serial intervals were calculated from 33 infector-infectee pairs and used to estimate the proportion of presymptomatic transmission events and time-varying reproduction numbers.
A national lockdown was implemented between 1 and 22 April. Around 200 000 people were quarantined and 266 122 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests conducted. Population mobility decreased progressively before lockdown. In total, 60% (163/270) of cases were imported; 43% (89/208) of resolved infections remained asymptomatic for the duration of infection. The serial interval was 3.24 days, and 27.5% (95% confidence interval CI, 15.7%-40.0%) of transmissions occurred presymptomatically. Limited transmission amounted to a maximum reproduction number of 1.15 (95% CI, .·37-2.·36). No community transmission has been detected since 15 April.
Vietnam has controlled SARS-CoV-2 spread through the early introduction of mass communication, meticulous contact tracing with strict quarantine, and international travel restrictions. The value of these interventions is supported by the high proportion of asymptomatic and imported cases, and evidence for substantial presymptomatic transmission.
Palliative care began in Vietnam in 2001, but steady growth in palliative care services and education commenced several years later when partnerships for ongoing training and technical assistance by ...committed experts were created with the Ministry of Health, major public hospitals, and medical universities. An empirical analysis of palliative care need by the Ministry of Health in 2006 was followed by national palliative care clinical guidelines, initiation of clinical training for physicians and nurses, and revision of opioid prescribing regulations. As advanced and specialist training programs in palliative care became available, graduates of these programs began helping to establish palliative care services in their hospitals. However, community-based palliative care is not covered by government health insurance and thus is almost completely unavailable. Work is underway to test the hypothesis that insurance coverage of palliative home care not only can improve patient outcomes but also provide financial risk protection for patients' families and reduce costs for the health care system by decreasing hospital admissions near the end of life. A national palliative care policy and strategic plan are needed to maintain progress toward universally accessible cost-effective palliative care services.
The postharvest preservation of Ngoc Linh ginseng (NL ginseng) is essential to retain its quality and sensory values for prolonged storage. In this study, the efficacy of NL ginseng preservation by ...coating chitosan derivatives in combination with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solutions was investigated under refrigeration conditions (~3 °C; ~40% RH) for 56 days. The effect of the chitosan–based solutions, including N,O–carboxymethyl chitosan (NOCC), chitosan oligomer saccharide (COS), or chitosan (CS), and the blend solutions (NOCC–PVA or COS–PVA) on the coated NL ginsengs was observed during storage. The pH values, viscosity, and film-forming capability of the coating solutions were determined, while the visual appearance, morphology, and mechanical properties of the films formed on glass substrates as a ginseng model for coating were also observed. The appearance, skin lightness, weight loss, sensory evaluation, total saponin content (TSC), total polyphenol content (TPC), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of the coated NL ginsengs were evaluated. The findings showed that the observed values of the coated NL ginsengs were better than those of the non-coated samples, with the exception of the COS–coated samples, which had completely negative results. Furthermore, the NOCC–PVA solution exhibited a better preservation effect compared with the COS–PVA one based on the observed indices, except for TPC and TAC, which were not impacted by the coating. Notably, the optimal preservation time was determined to be 35 days. This study presents promising preservation technology using the coating solution of NOCC–PVA, harnessing the synergistic effect of pH 7.4 and the form–firming capacity, to maintain the shelf life, medicinal content, and sensory attributes of NL ginseng.
We present new observations of the active star formation region NGC 1333 in the Perseus molecular cloud complex from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope B-Fields In Star-forming Region Observations ...(BISTRO) survey with the POL-2 instrument. The BISTRO data cover the entire NGC 1333 complex (∼1.5 pc × 2 pc) at 0.02 pc resolution and spatially resolve the polarized emission from individual filamentary structures for the first time. The inferred magnetic field structure is complex as a whole, with each individual filament aligned at different position angles relative to the local field orientation. We combine the BISTRO data with low- and high- resolution data derived from Planck and interferometers to study the multiscale magnetic field structure in this region. The magnetic field morphology drastically changes below a scale of ∼1 pc and remains continuous from the scales of filaments (∼0.1 pc) to that of protostellar envelopes (∼0.005 pc or ∼1000 au). Finally, we construct simple models in which we assume that the magnetic field is always perpendicular to the long axis of the filaments. We demonstrate that the observed variation of the relative orientation between the filament axes and the magnetic field angles are well reproduced by this model, taking into account the projection effects of the magnetic field and filaments relative to the plane of the sky. These projection effects may explain the apparent complexity of the magnetic field structure observed at the resolution of BISTRO data toward the filament network.
Abstract
We present 850
μ
m polarimetric observations toward the Serpens Main molecular cloud obtained using the POL-2 polarimeter on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as part of the B-fields In ...STar-forming Region Observations survey. These observations probe the magnetic field morphology of the Serpens Main molecular cloud on about 6000 au scales, which consists of cores and six filaments with different physical properties such as density and star formation activity. Using the histogram of relative orientation (HRO) technique, we find that magnetic fields are parallel to filaments in less-dense filamentary structures where
N
H
2
<
0.93
×
10
22
cm
−2
(magnetic fields perpendicular to density gradients), while they are perpendicular to filaments (magnetic fields parallel to density gradients) in dense filamentary structures with star formation activity. Moreover, applying the HRO technique to denser core regions, we find that magnetic field orientations change to become perpendicular to density gradients again at
N
H
2
≈
4.6
×
10
22
cm
−2
. This can be interpreted as a signature of core formation. At
N
H
2
≈
16
×
10
22
cm
−2
, magnetic fields change back to being parallel to density gradients once again, which can be understood to be due to magnetic fields being dragged in by infalling material. In addition, we estimate the magnetic field strengths of the filaments (
B
POS
= 60–300
μ
G)) using the Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi method and discuss whether the filaments are gravitationally unstable based on magnetic field and turbulence energy densities.
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